1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a video tape recorder (hereinafter briefly referred to as a "VTR") and more particularly to a VTR integrated with a camera, being compact in size and conveniently portable.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the VTR integrated with a camera has heretofore included a tape deck 1, a taking lens 2, a view finder 3 and the like, and has an outer shape of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped which is in a direction indicated by an arrow A in FIG. 4 as a whole i.e., the longest dimension of the parallelepiped is substantially parallel to a line pointing to the subject being recorded on video tape. Furthermore, the tape deck 1 is positioned at a side portion of the VTR integrated with a camera with respect to a subject, i.e., the shortest dimension of the tape in the tape deck is also substantially parallel to a line pointing to the subject.
When recording is performed by use of the above-described VTR integrated with a camera, a side grip formed on another side portion opposed to the tape deck 1 is gripped by a right hand, and a taking/recording button (not shown), is pushed by a thumb of the right hand to thereby start the recording, while a zoom button 4 is operated by a forefinger or middle finger of the right hand, and tele/wide is switching button is operated to thereby perform the recording.
Also, a liquid crystal display 5 is provided in close proximity of the zoom button 4 on the top surface of the VTR integrated with a camera, and date, current time, the remaining amount of a VTR tape and the like are displayed in this liquid crystal display 5.
Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 5, a stereo microphone 6 is positioned on the top of the front surface of the VTR integrated with a camera. As shown in FIG. 6, in the stereo microphone 6 covered by a net 7, there is provided one microphone unit 8A on the right side and another microphone unit 8B on the left side, both of which are respectively preset at predetermined stereo angles, and fixed to a microphone holder 9.
However, the taking lens 2 is positioned at one side opposed to the tape deck 1 in the conventional VTR integrated with a camera, whereby a lens housing 2A of the taking lens 2 has a shape of a bulge. With this arrangement, the conventional VTR integrated with a camera presents such disadvantages that it is large-sized and the portability thereof is unsatisfactory.
Furthermore, in the conventional VTR integrated with a camera, when the operating button or the zoom button 4 is operated, camera shake is caused due to a force of pushing the button, and further, the liquid crystal display portion 5 is positioned at a position apart from the view finder 3, thereby presenting such a disadvantage that the content displayed in the liquid crystal display portion 5 cannot be recognized at the position where the eye must be diverted from the view finder 3, which also adds to the problem of camera shake.
On the other hand, the stereo microphone 6 in the conventional VTR integrated with a camera is positioned on the front surface of the VTR integrated with a camera, thus presenting such a disadvantage that the sounds from the rear of the VTR integrated with a camera are interrupted by the body of the VTR integrated with a camera, so that the sound quality and realism is diminished.